IESA Expert Panel

Dr Vanchiappan Aravindan is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, IISER, Tirupati, India. His research interest includes the development of high-performance electrodes and electrolytes for Li-ion batteries and beyond, including spent Li-ion battery recycling. He has authored and co-authored over 240 articles with a h-index of 66. He also received the Swarnajayanti Fellowship in Physical Sciences in 2020 by DST, Govt. of India. 

Dr. Bijoy Kumar Das is currently working as a Senior Scientist at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad. His research interest is in the development of Lithium and sodium ion batteries for electric vehicle and grid storage applications.  

Before joining ARCI, Dr. Das worked as a Scientist at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, where he was actively involved on the development of high-capacity electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and electrochemistry-driven magnetism programs. Dr. Das also worked as a visiting Scientist at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Sweden in the field of energy storage materials.

He holds a master’s degree in Physics from Utkal University, Odisha, and an M.Tech.  degree in Materials Science and Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He received his Ph. D degree in Physics in the field of lithium-ion batteries from the National University of Singapore, Singapore. Dr. Das has 2 book chapters, more than 30 academic publications, 1 Indian and  4  international patents and presented work at various international and national conferences/workshops and invited talks.   

Dr Deepika received PhD and master’s degree from IIT Roorkee in the field of Nanotechnology and was awarded the Sushilawati Khosla Medal for securing the highest CGPA among the students in all master’s courses. She has more than 8 years of research experience in Nanomaterial development, air and water filtration, Graphene nanomaterials, Energy storage devices, Metal air batteries, etc. 

Currently, she has been working as a senior scientist in Log 9 Materials since February 2018 and has always been a key member of the Log 9 R&D and product development team. She has Published 1 individual book, 2 book chapters, and more than 9 research articles in high-impact factor international journals. 

Dr Kaushal Kumar Jha is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Engineering Design at IIT Madras. He is the CEO of the Center for Battery Engineering and Electric Vehicle – CBEEV at IIT Madras and the Center for Excellence in Energy and Telecommunications, (CEET), an R&D Society of IIT Madras. He contributes to India-specific cutting-edge R&D in Li-ion battery packs, motor thermal management, charger development, management & analytics, and recycling of Li-ion cells. He is the Principal Investigator and Founder of NoonRay Energy Pvt. Ltd. which specializes in thermal management solutions for automotive, EV, aerospace, commercial HVAC, and electronics. He consults for various organizations in the field of automotive thermal and energy management. He holds a Ph.D. from IIT Madras in Mechanical Engineering and has more than 10 years of experience in industrial and academic R&D.   

Dr. Nikhil Tambe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Consortium at IIT Madras. He oversees the development of industry-academia collaborations with a strategic focus on technologies that will enable the energy transition toward a low-carbon future.   

He also serves as Chair of the Energy Committee at the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SICCI) and is an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at BITS Pilani – Hyderabad campus.   

Previously, he served as Director for The Ohio State University’s India Gateway Office and helped build strategic engagement for the university in India with prominent industry, academia, and government partners. He has previously worked with Eaton’s Corporate Research & Technology and GE Global Research, over a combined 13-year span, driving technology & innovation portfolios on energy generation equipment and energy management solutions.  

He holds 12 issued patents and has 16 international peer-reviewed journal publications. He earned his PhD and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University, USA. He has a certification in Innovation Strategy from the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, and Policy Design & Delivery from Harvard Kennedy School. 

Dr Parveen Kumar is leading research and development activities at Exigo Recycling Pvt. Ltd, (Panipat, Haryana, electronic waste management industry). His team is focused on the recovery of various organic and inorganic materials from Lithium-ion batteries to synthesize battery-grade materials in the nano-size range further. Materials such as graphite and metal-organic frameworks can also have applications in biosensors, molecule separation, drug loading, and gas adsorption.  

He has done his M.Sc. From Kurukshetra University and Ph.D. From Panjab University and CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. He has been awarded ICMR-JRF for doing his Ph.D. 

Dr Kumar has served as a post-doc fellow in IISER Mohali, Dr. DS Kothari PDF at the Biotechnology department at Kurukshetra University, and DST- INSPIRE Faculty at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. He truly believes in interdisciplinary research as all streams of science have some overlapping boundaries. He has consulted various industries and start-ups in biosensing, solid waste management, electronic waste management, and energy storage. He has been a PI, Co-PI, and team member of various DST, DBT, ICMR, CSIR, and industry-sponsored projects. He has around 40 publications on his credit, 2 filed patents, 4 book chapters, and 3 technology transfers. His two Ph.D. students are working in the field of biosensors and two in the field of energy storage devices from recycled materials.

Dr Prabhakar Patil currently serves in Advisory roles with several companies in various segments of the battery value chain. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LG Chem Power, Inc.  (LGCPI), the North American subsidiary of lithium-ion battery-maker, LG Chem (LGC), Korea, from 2005 to 2015, and as Senior Advisor from 2016.  As CEO, he had overall responsibility for the strategic direction, business development, engineering, and manufacturing activities of the company.  

Prior to joining LG in 2005, Dr Patil spent his entire professional career of 27 years at Ford Motor Company in various engineering and management positions. He served as Chief Engineer for Ford’s Hybrid Technologies in 2003 and was also Chief Engineer for the Ford Escape Hybrid from 1998 to 2003.   

Dr Patil received his undergraduate degree from IIT Bombay, and his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has 18 patents, published 27 articles, and received the Henry Ford Technology Award in 1991 for his work in Electric Vehicle Powertrain Development. He was elected a Fellow by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in 2007.